The present invention relates to electrochemistry and, more particularly, to a new class of electrocatalysts based on highly electroconducting polymers that have transition metal atoms covalently bonded to backbone heteroatoms, and to a gas diffusion electrode including a highly electroconducting polymer.
Like all electrochemical cells used to produce electricity, a fuel cell consists of an electrolyte sandwiched between two electrodes, a cathode and an anode. The transport of electrical charge from one electrode to another across the electrolyte allows the oxidation of a reductant at the anode and the reduction of an oxidant at the cathode without direct contact of the two reactants. The difference between a fuel cells and other such electrochemical cells is that in a fuel cell, the reactants are continuously replenished. For example, in a fuel cell that combines hydrogen gas with oxygen gas to produce electricity, the hydrogen is oxidized to H+at the anode, the oxygen is reduced to O−2 at the cathode, the ions diffuse into the electrolyte and combine to form water, and the water diffuses out of the electrolyte.
One obvious requirement in a hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell is that the gaseous reactants must be able to diffuse into the electrodes. For this reason, these electrodes are called “gas diffusion electrodes”. FIG. 1 is a sketch of a prior art gas diffusion electrode 10, in cross-section. Bonded to a surface 14 of a porous, electrically conductive support sheet 12 are many small (typically colloidal) catalytically active particles 16. The function of catalytically active particles 16 is to catalyze the anode and cathode reactions, and to conduct the electrons produced (anode) or consumed (cathode) by the reactions to (anode) or from (cathode) sheet 12. Common examples of sheet 12 include carbon paper and carbon cloth; but metal (nickel or steel) mesh sheets 12 also are known. The charge carriers of sheet 12 usually are electrons, but sheets 12 in which the charge carriers are protons also are known. Typically, catalytically active particles 16 consist of cores of activated carbon, on the surfaces of which are deposited yet smaller particles of a catalytically active transition metal such as platinum. Surface 14 is the side of electrode 10 that faces the electrolyte in a fuel cell. Particles 16 typically are embedded in a layer 18 of a hydrophobic polymer such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). The function of hydrophobic layer 18 is to repel water that is formed during the process of electrocatalysis.
Various methods are known for fabricating electrode 10. These methods are reviewed by Frost et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,839, which is incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. One such method which is reviewed by Frost et al., and which includes screen printing of a co-suspension of carbon particles and particles of a hydrophobic polymer onto sheet 12, is taught by Goller et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,131, which also is incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein. Frost et al. then go on to teach their own method for fabricating electrode 10.
One field in which fuel cells have vet to realize their potential advantages of low cost and low pollution is that of automotive propulsion.
Internal combustion engines, in comparison with other types of engine technology such as electrical engines and engines powered by fuel cells, consume the greatest amount of fuel and also release the greatest amount of pollutants. Moreover, internal combustion engines operating on the Otto cycle have an operating efficiency of at most only 32%, while internal combustion engines operating on the Diesel cycle have an operating efficiency of at most only 40%.
Considerable effort has been expended by corporations, universities, government institutions and private individuals on finding a realistic commercial alternative to the internal combustion engine. Ideally, automobiles with such an alternative power source must be no more expensive to build and operate than vehicles with internal combustion engines. Moreover, the production of pollutants must be reduced, if not eliminated, relative to the internal combustion engine. Alternatives include electrical engines utilizing battery power, electrical engines tapping solar energy, methane gas engines and fuel cell engines. These alternatives also have been combined with internal combustion engines in hybrid vehicles. So far, no practical solution has been attained.
Fuel cells have emerged in the last decade as one of the most promising new technologies for meeting global electric power needs well into the twenty-first century. Fuel cells are inherently clean and remarkably efficient, and have been shown by the U. S. Department of Energy's Federal energy Technology Center and its industrial partners to supply electricity reliably while reducing emissions of carbon dioxide by 40 to 60 percent. Fuel cells produce negligible harmful emissions and operate so quietly that they can be used in residential neighborhoods.
Nevertheless, fuel cells have not yet provided a viable solution in the automotive field. Generally, engines using fuel cells have been too expensive to manufacture.
One important class of fuel cell is the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell, in which the electrolyte is a proton exchange membrane made of a material such as a PTFE-based ionomer such as Nafion®, available from E. I. DuPont de Namours and Company, Wilmington Del. Fuel cells of this class have much higher output power densities than fuel cells of competing classes, such as phosphoric acid liquid electrolyte fuel cells. Therefore, although PEM fuel cells operate only at relatively low temperatures, up to at most about 120° C. (vs., for example, up to 210° C. in the case of phosphoric acid liquid electrolyte fuel cells), PEM fuel cells show great promise for use in residential and small vehicle settings.
Other disadvantages of PEM fuel cells include the following:
1. The most efficient catalytic particles are platinum particles. Platinum is relatively costly.
2. Hydrogen gas for domestic use typically is produced by the reforming of natural gas. One byproduct of this reforming is carbon monoxide, which poisons platinum catalysts.
3. The efficiency of the cell depends on good electrical contact between particles 16 and sheet 12. This contact tends to be degraded over time, as a consequence of the gradual poisoning of the catalyst, and also as a consequence of environmental insults such as vibration.
Highly electroconducting polymers (HECP) are a class of polymers whose electrical resistivities are comparable to the resistivities of metals, in the range 0.1 to 100 siemens/cm. Typical examples of HECPs include polyaniline, polypyrrole, polythiophene and polyfuran. These HECPs include heteroatoms (N, N, S and O respectively) in their backbone monomers. Rajeshwar et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,292,, which is incorporated by reference for all purposes as if fully set forth herein, teach an improved electrode 10 in which particles 16 and layer 18 are replaced by a layer of a HECP polymer within which catalytically active colloidal particles, for example, platinum particles as small as 10 nanometers across, are dispersed uniformly. This electrode has the following advantages over electrode 10:
1. The three-dimensional disposition of the catalytically active particles in the electrode of Rajeshwar et al. gives that electrode higher catalytic activity per unit volume. hence per unit weight, than electrode 10, in which particles 16 are distributed two-dimensionally along surface 14.
2. This increased specific catalytic activity allows the use of a smaller amount of costly catalytic materials such as platinum in the electrode of Rajeshwar et al. than in electrode 10.
3. That the catalytically active particles of Rajeshwar et al. are embedded in an electrically conductive medium (the HECP), which in turn is in contact with surface 14 all along surface 14, provides the catalytically active particles of Rajeshwar et al. with a much better electrical contact to sheet 12 than particles 16 have to sheet 12 in electrode 10.
4. The embedding of the catalytically active particles of Rajeshwar et al. in a polymer matrix also provides the electrode of Rajeshwar et al. with better mechanical stability, in terms of resistance to disruption by impact and vibration, than electrode 10.
5. It is believed that the HECP matrix provides resistance to carbon monoxide poisoning of colloidal platinum particles.